Comments for consumers
This page/column contains information which may be of interest to consumers. The information is based on articles which appear in Australian Prescriber. As Australian Prescriber is written for health professionals, you should discuss any issues raised by this page/column with your doctor or pharmacist. They will be able to give a more detailed answer to your questions by reading the main article.
Australian Prescriber is unable to comment on individual cases or give second opinions.
Australian Prescriber Vol. 28 No. 5 2005
Medicines for mental illness in children
Children and adolescents can develop mental health problems. Often these can be managed without the need for medicines.
Insome cases the child's problems may be severe enough to require amedicine. A common example is the treatment of attention deficithyperactivity disorder with amphetamines. Sometimes medicines work bestin combination with a program to change behaviour.
Problemssuch as persistent bed wetting can usually be managed in generalpractice. More complex problems such as psychotic symptoms needspecialist management.
There is limited informationabout using medicines to treat some psychiatric illnesses in children.For example, there has been debate about how to treat severe depressionin children. There is a concern that young people given antidepressantsmay be more likely to consider suicide.
Asking aboutthe safety of the medicine and the evidence that it works is importantwhen a psychiatric drug is recommended for a child.
